Rudy Coronado released three doves at the funeral services for his three children. At right is his sister, Sandra Coronado. Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes. June 2, 2014. (Brad Graverson / Staff Photographer)

Three young sisters allegedly stabbed to death by their mother were laid to rest side by side Monday in the Babyland section at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Mourners surrounded the girls’ grieving father, Rudy Coronado, who released butterflies and doves into the air as he stood before their caskets.

Known as the “Three Coronado Angels,” the youngsters — Sophia, 2 1/2; Yazmine, 16 months; and Xenia, 2 months — were buried in an area of the cemetery where many parents have previously said goodbye to their infants and toddlers far too soon.

Earlier, at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Gardena, mariachi music played as family members carried the three small caskets into the church, where about 250 people joined together to mourn at a funeral Mass. Sophia’s was light purple, and about 5 feet long; Yazmine’s pink and about 4 feet long; Xenia’s, a foot smaller and white.

Each was adorned with red and purple marigolds and roses. Their father, wearing a black shirt and pants, a red rose and a blue tie, followed them into the church and sat in the front row, just feet from the caskets. He wiped tears with a black handkerchief that he would later use to polish Xenia’s casket as he followed it closely out of the church.

Most of the service was in Spanish.

The Rev. George Aguilar prayed “for all parents who grieve over the death of their children that they be comforted with the knowledge that their children dwell with God.”

“May (God’s) spirit unite this family so they may walk with his presence and one day be reunited with these children,” he said.

The girls’ mother, Carol Coronado, who knifed herself in the chest after allegedly stabbing her children May 20 at their home in the 1000 block of West 223rd Street near Carson, did not attend. She remained in jail without bail following her not guilty plea last week to three counts of murder that could earn her the death penalty.